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The Artists

SARAH SHAFER - Soprano

Praised by the New York Times for her “luminous voice” and “intensely expressive interpretations,” and named “remarkable, artistically mature” and “a singer to watch” by Opera News, American soprano Sarah Shafer performs with opera companies including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Glyndebourne, Opera Philadelphia, San Diego Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Tulsa Opera. Equally at home in standard and contemporary repertoire, she has created leading roles in world premiere productions with San Francisco Opera, and debuted works by renowned composers Richard Danielpour, John Harbison, and Poul Ruders. She has appeared in concert with many orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the National Orchestra of Mexico, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

An avid chamber musician and recitalist, she regularly collaborates with pianist Richard Goode at venues including Carnegie Hall and Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, and sings at prominent festivals throughout the United States and abroad, including the Oregon Bach Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, Bard Music Festival, and the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary. Sarah was a 2014 Astral Artists winner. She spent five summers as a resident artist at the Marlboro Music Festival. Recordings include the debut of Richard Danielpour’s chamber work, “Talking to Aphrodite” with Naxos Records, Poul Ruder’s opera The Thirteenth Child with Bridge Records, and works of Benjamin C.S. Boyle with Lyric Fest and Navona Records.

Amy Yovanovich - Mezzo-Soprano

Ms. Yovanovich started singing as a child. She is a 1989 graduate of Elizabethtown Area High School, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.  After high school she served as lead soloist at St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Amy has studied voice/opera extensively at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster, PA. Ms. Yovanovich has also studied under Mr. John Darrenkamp, a well-known veteran of the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City and currently studies with Ms. Kyle C. Engler, Mezzo-Soprano, Baltimore, Maryland.

She has performed with the Pennsylvania Academy of Music Opera Theatre Workshop, Lancaster and Harrisburg Opera Companies, Reading Pops Orchestra & Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. She has performed in a number of operas, including, Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte as Dorabella, Bizet’s Carmen as Carmen and Mennotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors as the Mother. Ms. Yovanovich has also performed many oratorios, including Verdi & Mozart Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabeus, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. She has also performed in several productions at the Fulton Opera House including The Sound of Music as Mother Abbess, in Rags as Rosa, in Ragtime as Sarah’s Friend, in Carousel as Netty Fowler and Oliver as Widow Corney.

In March of 1998, Ms. Yovanovich was the recipient of the prestigious Oxnard Gold Medal, First Place Award in the American Traditions Competition in Savannah, Georgia, sponsored by Savannah On Stage.  She also was Honorable Mention at the 1998 Metropolitan Opera District Auditions, finalist in the 1999 National Federation of Music Clubs Competition, and a winner in the 2000 Connecticut Opera Guild Competition.  In February of 2003, she made her non-musical debut with Ephrata ACT as Berenice Sadie Brown in Carson McCullers’ “The Member of the Wedding.” She is a frequent guest artist and soloist throughout the Central Pennsylvania region. Amy is currently Executive Director and vocal instructor for the State Street Academy of Music in Harrisburg.

Gary Seydell - Tenor

Gary Seydell has performed with orchestras and opera houses throughout the United States, Australia, The Bahamas, Fiji, Finland, New Zealand, Ukraine and Italy. The St. Louis Dispatch described him as “captivating…a most impressive Canio. He brought ringing high notes and convincing intensity to the role.”

Seydell holds a Bachelor of Arts in voice from the University of Delaware, a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and an Artist Diploma in Opera from The University of Cincinnati College -Conservatory of Music where he was the recipient of the Norman Treigle Memorial Scholarship. He has been adjunct professor of voice at the University of Delaware, Visiting Assistant Professor at The State University of New York (SUNY) College and Visiting Artist at the University of the Bahamas. He currently holds the position of Assistant Director of Academic Advising at Wilmington University.  Mr. Seydell is a gifted, inspiring, and passionate educator with over thirty years of experience in secondary and higher education.  Gary resides in Newark, Delaware and  continues to teach and perform throughout Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

STEVEN CONDY - Bass

Steven Condy enjoys a career filled with notoriety and acclaim for his creative portrayals of the great “buffo” roles and is admired not only for his robust and nuanced voice, but also for his natural acting ability.  This season, Mr. Condy reprised the title role of Don Pasquale with the Brevard Festival Orchestra and joined the esteemed roster of The Metropolitan Opera for their production of La bohème. Renowned for his interpretation of Dr. Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, recently, the Boston Music Intelligencer raved of his “most delightfully surprising and truly brilliant performance…the agility of his voice, not only in negotiating the vocal roller-coasters, but also in creating comically nuanced coloring….” The title role in Verdi’s Falsaff is another signature role in Mr. Condy’s repertoire, which he performed at companies such as Utah Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera San José, and most recently, Opera Delaware. Of his Falstaff, Opera News hailed his performance as “hilariously larger-than-life yet a totally believable and sympathetic Sir John.” This season, he will perform the role of Scarpia in Tosca with Opera Carolina, as well as Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance with Opera Grand Rapids.  He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Hartford and a Master of Music degree from Yale University’s School of Music.  He also holds the position of Music Recruitment and Events Coordinator at Cairn University, where he also serves as adjunct faculty and co-director of Opera Theater.

Benjamin Harding, Conductor

Canadian-American pianist, Benjamin Harding, began his study of piano at the age of five, competing in a variety of festivals and competitions from an early age. Benjamin completed the performance requirements for the Associateship Degree of the Royal Conservatory of Music while in high school and has appeared on CBC Radio in his home province of New Brunswick. He has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Hong Kong. An active chamber musician, Benjamin has recently collaborated with cellists Michael Katz and Kangho Lee, violinists Anthea Kreston, Benjamin Shute, David Kim, Christopher Wu and violist Clark Potter. His primary piano teachers include Juanita Spragg, Carol O’Neil, Samuel Hsu, Nina Svetlanova, Bradford Gowen, and Edna Golandsky. 

He is host and producer of the successful podcast, “Inside the Taubman Approach”,  on behalf of the Golandsky Institute. His latest recordings of the music of Gustav Hoyer can be found at the composer’s website  www.gustavhoyer.com and at Octave Records. Benjamin premiered the new work composed for him, Psalms without Words: Ten Preludes by composer David Bennett Thomas this season and has added it to his extensive engagements. He will be Artist-In-Residence for the George MacDonald Society’s Conference at Yale University, December 2024. 

He is a frequent guest conductor and clinician for high school choir, band, and orchestra festivals. He is an active member of the American Liszt Society – President of the Philadelphia Chapter -, and the Music Teachers National Association. He is also the director and founder of the St. Andrews International Piano Festival in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. 

He holds a Masters degree and Professional Studies certificate from Manhattan School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also Director of Worship Ministries at Riverstone Church in Yardley, PA.

THE ORCHESTRA

The players in the orchestra are individually selected to play for this event. Many are current or former players in the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Pops Orchestra, or Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia. In addition to playing with these orchestras, some of them teach privately in the Philadelphia area while others are employed as church organists and choir directors or have full time careers in instrumental performance.

THE CHOIR

Most of the choir members do not know each other when they come together to sing Messiah. Since there are no rehearsals, there are some individuals who know the music very well (some even have it memorized). Others are less familiar with some parts of it. The one thing they have in common is a love for this great work. Since there are no rehearsals, individuals come from a great distance for this opportunity to participate.

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